Working together with TRAQ

• Getting accurate and actionable results through professional blood and fitness tests can be both expensive and time-consuming. Hence, personal health and wellness tracking continues to grow in popularity, especially through non-invasive solutions such as wearables, sweat and urine measurements.
  
• DSM has announced a new research collaboration with TRAQ – a start-up company that is developing a point-of-need test that can track activity and health data through saliva sampling. Saliva can provide highly detailed insights into health and fitness and doesn’t require the same level of intrusive testing that blood does.
  
• The research will be used to measure a health biomarker from saliva, and to test if a supplementation with specific vitamins, minerals and other nutrients can improve this biomarker to further sports performance.

Optimizing health through science and data driven nutrition

As interest in personalized nutrition increases, the demand for non-invasive, accurate tests and solution-driven applications has also grown.

To further the pursuit of personalized health and wellness science and data, DSM has entered into a new partnership with TRAQ – a start-up company spun out from University of California San Diego (UCSD) research, which is developing a point-of-need platform that can track health data through saliva sampling. The research will be used to assess a key health biomarker from saliva and to test if a supplementation with specific vitamins, minerals and other nutrients can improve this biomarker and further sports performance.

Test and learn with TRAQ

DSM’s collaboration with TRAQ will focus on the development of a proof-of-concept for an assay platform. It will be created with athletes and active consumers in mind, to provide a non-invasive, point-of-need device, bolstering DSM’s portfolio of personalized nutrition solutions.

During initial research, TRAQ’s platform will be used to assess the amount of lactate in saliva. This marker will be used to test how supplements containing vitamins and other micronutrients can impact or reduce cases of lactic acidosis for overall improved performance during athletic training. Ultimately, the research will explore both the power of the TRAQ platform, and how DSM ingredients can positively impact biomarkers in the saliva.